When G-d Goes Into Hiding

Our history has not
always been rosy. We have experienced tranquility, peace, and spiritual
greatness, yet we have also experienced terrible exile, destruction, and
persecution. Indeed, on the last day of Moses’ life, G‑d tells him what will
befall the people when they abandon G‑d:

And
the L‑rd said to Moses: Behold, you are [about to] lie with your forefathers,
and this nation will rise up and stray after the deities of the nations of the
land, into which they are coming. And they will forsake Me and violate My
covenant which I made with them.

And
My fury will rage against them on that day, and I will abandon them and hide My
face from them, and they will be consumed, and many evils and troubles will
befall them, and they will say on that day, ‘Is it not because our G‑d is no
longer among us, that these evils have befallen us?’1

These harsh words were
not merely to warn the Jewish people of the consequences for abandoning their
destiny. Perhaps more importantly, the purpose was to ensure that the people
would correctly interpret and respond to the difficult exile.

The natural response to
the “many evils and troubles” would be for the people to believe that G‑d “is
no longer among us.” Yet, as G‑d told Moses, that conclusion would be
categorically incorrect:

And
I will hide My face on that day, because of all the evil they have committed,
when they turned to other deities.2

We are here as Jews
today, because generations of Jews understood this truth: That the exile is not
the absence of G‑d’s love and presence, but merely a concealment of His grace.
“I will hide My face on that day,” says G‑d, and the Jewish people understood
that hiding is by no means an abandonment. They felt G‑d’s presence even in the
most difficult circumstances.

And then came the
mystics, who understood that all existence is dependent upon G‑d, and that
there is no place devoid of Him. When they looked at darkness, they understood
that although G‑d’s presence is not revealed, His essence is still present.
They understood that the most powerful message in the verse “And I will hide My
face on that day,” is not that G‑d will hide, but that even within the
concealment, He is very much present.

Every year, this
portion is read in proximity to Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, when we engage in
introspection, and seek atonement and spiritual betterment, looking back at the
moments of joy and inspiration, but also the darkness and hurt of the past
year. The Torah teaches that specifically in the moments of concealment lies
the potential to reach the deepest part of ourselves. When we feel no
inspiration, no excitement, no enthusiasm, we must understand that the
concealment is a tool to encourage us to reach deeper within ourselves, to get
in touch with our own core. Doing so will allow us to discover that within the
concealment we can access the deepest Divine strength, and, ultimately,
transform the darkness into light.

Rabbi Menachem Feldman serves as the director of the Lifelong Learning department at the Chabad Lubavitch Center in Greenwich, Connecticut.

Art by Rivka Korf Studio, a Miami-based art design studio run by Rivka Korf, a coffee lover and mother. Rivka uses her expertise and creativity to run a team that creates masterful compositions and illustrations for corporate and large nonprofit organizations.

The Hebrew word in verse 17 ועזבתים, does not mean abandon; the meaning is closer to "to leave". The commentators (Seforno) explain that it means that G-d will allow the nations to conquer Israel.The word used in verse 18 is "And I will hide My face". Hiding is not an abandonment.
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